how do you explain this sentence? "the limit of my language is the limit of my world" ....?

Answer 1

I like to tell people that because I know Spanish as well as English, my world is twice as big. That means I can talk to almost anyone I meet in the Southwest United States, where so many speak both Spanish and English, instead of being limited to just English. Now if only I knew French, I could go to Canada and expand my world by another big percentage. Same with Russian or German or Portuguese or Chinese.

Answer 2

I can try to explain with an example: Eskimo Indians reportedly have at least 29 different words for "snow". They can describe exactly the kind of snow they mean and another Eskimo will understand them. I say the "snow" was "slushy" and maybe you will understand what I mean and maybe not. Also, once I say it is "snowing" I probably won't give the kind of snow much thought. My limited English words for snow limit my world when it comes to snow.

More simply put, if my language includes only "good" and "bad", then everything in my world is either "good" or "bad". I won't understand "some good, some bad".

More humorously: all people can be divided into two groups: those who think all people can be divided into two groups, and those who don't.

Answer 3

Well what i can think of is that different languages are spoken in different parts of the world & if you do not speak the local language of the part of the world you are in, you are just no where . So it's your language that makes your world a limited area. Thats prolly the meaning .

Answer 4

Remember Helen Keller? She was blind and deaf, and her world was incredibly limited to scrounging around for scraps of food. Pretty much the existence of a caged animal.

But then Ann Sullivan opened her world by communicating with her, first the meaning of the word "water." With sign language, Ann helped Helen to "feel" her way through meaningful experiences...meaningful because they were concepts (thoughts, ideas, things) represented by language.

We are no different, except that we can see and hear, giving us the advantage of being able to use visible signs with corresponding audible sounds (letters and numbers) forming words and representing concepts, like "water."